Now the upper chambers were shorter: for the galleries were higher than these, than the lower, and than the middlemost of the building.

Now the upper chambers were shorter; for the galleries took away from these, more than from the lower and the middlemost, in the building.

Where were the store chambers lower above: because they bore up the galleries, which appeared above out of them from the lower parts, and from the midst of the building.

And the upper cells, because the galleries encroached on them, were shorter than the lower, and than the middle-most of the building.

And the upper chambers are short, for the galleries contain more than these, than the lower, and than the middle one, of the building;

And the higher rooms were shorter: for the covered ways took up more space from these than from the lower and middle rooms.

In that place, there were storerooms in the upper part of the lower level. For they supported the porticos, which projected from them out of the lower level, and out of the middle of the building.

Render: "And the upper chambers were" shortened, for galleries took off from them, from "the lower" and from "the middle-most, chambers, of the building." The building rose in terraces, as was usual in Babylonian architecture, and so each of the two upper stories receded from the one below it.

Now the upper chambers were shorter,.... The chambers were in three stories, as in the following verse, one above another; the middlemost were shorter than the lowermost, and the upper shorter than either; just the reverse of the chambers in Ezekiel 41:7, they were not so high from the floor to the ceiling, nor so broad from side to side. The reason follows:
for the galleries were higher than these; or, "ate out of these" (w), "than the lower, and than the middlemost of the building"; the meaning is, that the galleries or balconies in the middlemost and upper chambers were taken, out of them, and so made them lesser than the lower ones, and the upper ones lesser than either; or the posts or pillars, as the word may be rendered, see Ezekiel 42:3, which supported the chambers, took more out of the uppermost than the others, and so made them shorter. This may signify the diversity of gifts and grace, of light and knowledge, and of liberty and comfort, in the churches; and that, as those that are uppermost have most light, they are usually the least, and fewest members in them; who are the few names in Sardis, Revelation 3:4, and are generally more straitened, afflicted, reproached, and persecuted.
(w) Keri, "comedebant ex ipsis", Mariana; "demordebant ab illis", Cocceius, Starckius.

shorter--that is, the building became narrower as it rose in height. The chambers were many: so "in My Father's house are many mansions" (John 14:2); and besides these there was much "room" still left (compare Luke 14:22). The chambers, though private, were near the temple. Prayer in our chambers is to prepare us for public devotions, and to help us in improving them.

Shorter - At first view it should seem to refer to the length, but indeed it refers to the height of the chambers, of which the lowest chamber was highest, the second lower pitched than the first, yet of greater height than the uppermost between the floor and ceiling.